Jasmine Star 00:00:00  I block out time before and during a promotional period just for engaging, responding, and initiating conversations. And you want to know what else? Conversations give you data. By talking to your audience. You get to know their needs, their preferences, their challenges. And this feedback is gold. Welcome back to The Jasmine Star Show, where we talk about business mindset and today, strategies to engage your audience before you start a promotional period. Now, whether you're considering having a promotion or a big product launch, these strategies will help you connect with your audience and build excitement. But first, I want to read a recent review of the show The Retail Therapist. Yes, that is actually her title in Australia, gave five stars and said, I accidentally binge on four hours of the podcast. Can I say that I'm loving the new pivot to be less social media focused and more on business leadership? I binged four hours of this podcast while driving down the freeway in time to see you. You're looking for a way to upload your business? Subscribe to this show.

Jasmine Star 00:00:55  Okay you guys, I get so awkward reading them. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All right. Now let's dive into the four strategies to help you engage your audience before a promotional period or a holiday sale period. Now, what you're going to see around big holidays are a ton of direct promotions, a lot of businesses asking for a lot from their followers. But what if you showed up differently? What if you built a long tail strategy for your business to stick out and get big results? Let's dive in. Strategy number one is to create a pop up private community. This community should be centered around the value of the offer you're promoting. Are you launching your fitness program? The community can be a fitness bootcamp. Are you launching a financial planner? Your community can be a savings account success group. By creating a value based community, you're generating so much excitement and value before your promotion even starts. In February 2024, I hosted a pop up community for three and a half weeks, and we called it Your Revenue Boot Camp, where I was able to teach live classes, have specific conversations around money and financial goals for the year and I got to support other entrepreneurs.

Jasmine Star 00:02:06  I loved it. Could I have simply posted the same content on my social channels? Yeah. Of course. But not everybody on my social channels wants to hear in depth about that topic. I love hub communities because it's a perfect way to go deep and go fast around a particular topic, while gathering a group of people who want to go deep and fast. In the same way. It's almost like creating a niche group within your larger audience. When you set up your community, I recommend a private Facebook group or a private Instagram account. Now I know, I know, you're like, not another thing to do on social media, but hear me out. The people who are going to join you are most likely already on Facebook and Instagram. They get the notification straight to their phone, and they don't have to log in or learn to navigate a new platform. But the best part just is just. My opinion is that they naturally get support, and they build relationships with other people in your community on that social platform.

Jasmine Star 00:02:59  And when somebody gained a new relationship with somebody else because of you or your community, the automatically feel a deeper connection to you in your business. Now, we saw this a lot on the inside of the revenue Boot camp. We scheduled our post in advance for the three and a half. Four weeks of the group was open, and a good portion of those posts were very short engagement driven questions to create a connection amongst those group members. So we shared helpful resources and relevant content, value driven content, and the announcement to remind them of like, hey, we have these upcoming classes, these left classes, the master class. And this is an important note. A public community is intended to be for a short period of time, to first add a ton of value for the people in the community, and then second prime members for a valuable offer that you are going to make them to help them get faster results or better or an easier way. This is why I suggest starting a pop up community on a free social platform.

Jasmine Star 00:03:57  You don't want to incur cost for people who aren't investing in your business. Any time I create an offer that includes a community component. That's when I invest in a paid community platform. Yes, I use a portion of the revenue generated from the offer to host a private community with all the bells and whistles, and that's when I really want to make that community magical. It's on my platform, I own it, it's not on social. I get a better experience and overall it's phenomenal for brand building. So inside of the community, along with sharing exclusive content, I'm going to share three things that you can do inside of your private community. The first idea is to host smaller pre promotion events. Now this could be live training, product demos or Q&A session that provides value. And then it helps to build that anticipation for that upcoming promotion. Okay. So let's get into an example. If you're launching a fitness program, you can offer a mini workout session or a nutrition workshop. Make sure you also share reminders and links and workbooks or whatever else that your members are going to need in advance to prepare and access those events.

Jasmine Star 00:05:04  It makes a huge difference in the energy of the community. Trust me when they are so well prepared. So in the public community that we hosted that revenue bootcamp, I went live to teach there at least twice a week before the master class, so this helped build momentum for the master class. It helped participants stay engaged while getting small wins. Now, the second idea for your private community is to assign or encourage accountability partners. When you pair up community members with accountability partners as accountability partners, they're going to be more likely to stay motivated and engaged. It creates a sense of camaraderie and support, which makes that group feel really active and alive. I'm going to pause here. I was working with an author doing a consulting, and one of the things that we did was offer to establish a community. I didn't offer to establish a community she created as part of her offer, a community as part of her book launch. So the community was free. People were coming in, she was doing Q&A sessions.

Jasmine Star 00:06:02  She was teaching small frameworks from her book. And so the people in the community got so excited for the launch of her book that when she opened the presale moment, everybody in that group was buying her book presale. And this right here then became great. Now we're going to have people stay accountable. So they have reading clubs. Now, we didn't say for this particular author that we were to do accountability partners. That works more in like a business context if you're doing a fitness challenge or a business challenge. But for her, we had said, how many people can start their book clubs. And so people not only were pre-ordering, they then had their book clubs, all leading up to the intentionality of her short term pop up community. Now, the third idea that I have for you, and this one might be my favorite, is to gamify the group. Now, I hate the word gamify. I never did it. I was like, this is such a techie. Like, I'm sorry, I'm going to say something.

Jasmine Star 00:06:51  It's going to offend people. It's such a tech, bro. Let's gamify and optimize the results. Will retargeting with triggers like, I can't do it, but let me tell you gamifying a group is fantastic. You can do this by running contest or a challenge with the chance to win giveaways or prizes, you can literally reward the community with anything. Completing an action step. Sharing their experience. Engaging with the community content. Okay, so you're going to start optimizing for the things you want them to do in the group. You're going to start incentivizing them to do that. And the price doesn't even have to be big. It could be your own business merchandise. It could be discounts to your products or services. It could be gift cards. It could be early access to new products. It could be access to a private class that you do one on one or a small group. Oh, there's so many ideas. But doing this not only incentivizes participation, but it also builds up excitement leading to your promotion.

Jasmine Star 00:07:40  So in the revenue bootcamp, we posted a few Starbucks gift cards that multiple people could use to get coffee. So I want to pause. What we did was we got a digital Starbucks card and we loaded up with a few hundred bucks and we said, we're going to be teaching our first training at 9 a.m. be sure you're caffeinated. So we put the digital card in the group and we just said, just show this barcode when you buy your coffee. So people were like, they're in the pop up community group. They're like, I'm not sure it's going to work. They would order their Starbucks drink and they would say, can you scan this code? And then each 5 or $6 coffee was taken off from that. And then people started posting photos of them drinking their coffee. Then they started posting photos of them drinking their coffee out on social media. I was getting hundreds of Instagram stories of people saying, Jasmine, thanks for the coffee before our live class. And I was like, oh heck yes, this is fantastic with engagement, it's fantastic with morale, it's fantastic showcasing what we're doing as a community.

Jasmine Star 00:08:37  But we also gamified with a game that we called Boot Camp Bingo. This is where members commented with a specific emoji to a pin post for attending groups or participating in the group. So group members got rewarded for taking small actions which encouraged them to take more action. And this led to business wins within the group. So pause. I need you to imagine a standard bingo card. And on this bingo card it was doing things like attend class number one, attend class number two, attend the master class Share this on social media. Find accountability partner. We essentially created action steps for them to do within the community. And then every time they did it, they were able to put an emoji on top of that bingo card. And so then the minute you got a blackout on the bingo, you were then eligible to be part of a giveaway. Man, I think it works so well. Okay, so next thing you know, the members were sharing their wins with their bingo card publicly, and then that inspired more people to participate the group.

Jasmine Star 00:09:39  And then they would start inviting their business owner friends. It was a domino effect all through Gamifying. So let's walk through two different examples so ideas can start flowing. You know, as you start thinking about doing this in your business. We've already mentioned the fitness company and a financial planning company, so let's break them down. A fitness company could do this by setting up like a leaderboard that tracks how many calories they burn that week, or maybe how many steps they have, or like your starting weight or your starting muscle mass. The leaderboard can show the top performers, and the business owner could then give away small prizes or shout outs for those people who hit the top spots. It is a great way to keep everybody engaged and motivated, and it adds a little friendly competition to their fitness routine. Now a company launching a financial planner, they could create a savings challenge where participants set and track their goals toward savings. They could share an action step each day of the promotion like, oh, track your spending or going through your past purchases.

Jasmine Star 00:10:34  Things that would give them a quick win and make them want more. Okay, now let's move on to strategy number two to engage your audience before a big promotion or the holiday season is to run a short term referral program. You can create a simple program where existing customers can invite friends to join your email list, sign up for a free class, join a private community, or buy from you. You're going to want to incentivize both existing and referring clients like your refers and referrals, because you want to get them excited and you want them feeling good. Now, doing this not only helps you expand your reach, but also leverages the trust your current customers have with their friends and community. Now, if you already have a referral program and you're not sure how this particular idea could apply, think about renting a special maybe like a limited time campaign with new rewards, this can re-energize your existing program and encourage more participation. Okay, so for example, offer double rewards. Starbucks does this really well, like they're killing it.

Jasmine Star 00:11:33  Or exclusive bonuses for referrals made during a promotional period. The third strategy to engage your audience before a promotional period is to start a waitlist. Set up a waitlist for the promotion, where people can sign up to be the first to know where the offer or the deals go live. Think of a waitlist as a non-committal way for people to take action when they're even just slightly interested in what you're offering. It gives you a list of warm leads who have already shown interest. You can also keep an eye on who opens your emails and have your team start interacting with them on social media. So let's get into a real example of how I recently used a waitlist for my mastermind. Okay, so the team went through every weightlifter on the mastermind weight list and then categorized each person focusing on the size of their business. Because the mastermind was for seven figure entrepreneurs. We segmented the list into qualified leads. I then followed each person on social media and began engaging with their posts so I can get a better idea of who they were if they were going to be a good fit, like what business they were building, and a general idea of whether I could offer direct value add for their business growth.

Jasmine Star 00:12:41  Before we open the mastermind applications to the public, I send a personal email to each qualified lead, inviting them to schedule a 20 minute call with me to see if the mastermind would be a good fit for us both. I could only do that because they signed up for the waitlist. That was where I got their information. They provided me with a lot of information to personalize the offer and develop trust before they were invited to apply. It was truly incredible to see the response and how effective it was. Now let's talk about you. Here are three ways that you can make the most of your wait list. First, create a sense of exclusivity. Promote your waitlist as an exclusive opportunity to be the first to know about your upcoming offer. You can use phrases like be the first to access. Be the first in line. Get your seat. Lock it up. Okay, so you can even offer an incentive to people on the waitlist, like early pricing or special bonus. The second idea to make the most out of your waitlist is to create a countdown for what you're launching.

Jasmine Star 00:13:39  You can use a countdown timer to build anticipation and excitement as your launch date approaches, to create a sense of urgency and keep those wait listers like they're eager and engaged. The third way you can make the most out of your waitlist is to leverage social proof, sharing testimonials or stories from past offers, or even past workshops or masterclasses will build credibility and show the potential waitlist the value of what you're offering. The fourth and final strategy to engage with your audience before a promotion or a holiday is to prioritize conversations. Now, I know it might seem like a no brainer and you're like, I get it. But before and during a launch and a promotional period initiating gets overlooked or just gets put on the backburner. Because I know you have a lot of moving parts and there's so many things to do, and there's a rush to get it all done. However, engaging in meaningful conversations with your audience can make a huge difference. I block out time before and during a promotional period just for engaging, responding, and initiating conversations.

Jasmine Star 00:14:37  And you want to know what else. Conversations give you data. By talking to your audience, you get to know their needs, their preferences, their challenges. And this feedback is gold. It helps you shape your marketing, your offers, and your content so that they're really connecting. They look at your content and say, he knows me, she knows me. Plus, these interactions build trust and it shows your audience that you care about them. I use conversations not only to qualify leads, but also fine tune my strategies and especially these podcast episodes. When I'm talking to you in DM, I am listening y'all. I know that when you're launching and you're launching direct messages and conversations feel like, oh, they're going to be the last priority, but it should be the exact opposite. So here are two things I do to make sure that I have enough time to prioritize conversations during a promotional period. Number one, I write and plan all of my content ahead of time. This means plotting my social media post, pre-recording videos, and scheduling email campaigns well before the promotional period begins.

Jasmine Star 00:15:38  By having your content ready a month or two in advance, it gives you more time to focus on engaging with your audience and handling last minute details. And, you know, it goes to say, yes, I do. Keep a close eye on my content. I want to make sure it's performing. I want to know how the audience is responding. But when I'm doing this, I'm only looking at this as a way to adjust my strategy based on feedback and engagement levels. But by and large, 90% of it is locked in and done. If something is resonating really well, well then I'm going to amplify it. If things aren't working so well, the stuff that I planned, I'm going to quickly pivot. But I have a plan. Now the second thing I do is blocking out dedicated time for engagement. I schedule specific blocks of time each day of the pre-launch and during the launch just to engage with my audience. It is literally 20 30 minutes a day because it helps build stronger relationships and it keeps momentum going throughout the promotional period.

Jasmine Star 00:16:28  Okay, let's summarize what we went over. Strategy number one is to engage your audience before the promotional period. And we're going to start doing this. And we can do this by way of a pop up private community. The second strategy was to run a short term referral program. And the third one is to engage your audience before the promotional period. And that's to go by way of a wait list. And the fourth strategy was to prioritize those conversations. I cannot thank you enough for listening to The Jasmine Star Show. I would be so honored and grateful if you were to leave a review. And for those people who are sharing it on your stories and sharing it on social media, the team and I see it, we appreciate you. Thank you for the tags. You are the reason the show is able to grow. If you haven't had the opportunity to leave a review or tag me in a story, let today be that day. Thank you so much for listening.